


Thinking where am I gonna be if I'm ever twenty-three

by palateens



Series: Grand Larsony [7]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Multi, NHL Holster, Polyamory, Ransom and Lardo delaying their futures for as long as possible, copius attempts at adulting, if you ever wanted to know what projection looks like, it's right here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 10:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10965717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palateens/pseuds/palateens
Summary: “Holtzy gets…a little uptight before the trade deadline.” Ransom explains. “As in if he had a coral reef mode—it would be for trades.”





	Thinking where am I gonna be if I'm ever twenty-three

**Author's Note:**

> originally prompted on Tumblr " i don’t know what the fuck true love even is but i do want to hang out with you for basically the rest of my life. (let’s hang out - TO THE DEATH)"

It's a week and a half before the 2020 trade deadline when Justin all but falls into Larissa’s lap after a long day at the hospital.

“That bad huh?”

“I could go the rest of my life never seeing a foot like that again. And it’d still be too soon.” Ransom complains.

Lardo chuckles, rubbing small circles into his neck. “Well good thing you get to choose your specialization.”

“Don’t remind me,” he grumbles.

She frowns sympathetically. “Still not sure?”

“When have I ever been sure about this?”

“Well I think you’re sure you don’t want to do it anymore,” she surmises.

“Yea,” Justin’s voice drops off, “could we not talk about it right now?”

“Of course, babe,” Lardo assures him.

Somethings had changed over the years. Justin still had anxiety attacks. But he physically relaxes when Larissa drapes a heavy wool blanket over him, and replaces her lap with a throw. She flips on TV Land. She gets up to make dinner, knowing that Justin would talk when he’s ready. Ready came about a half an hour later as he shuffles tiredly into the kitchen, his chin resting heavily on top of Lardo’s head. His arms wind around her hips gently.

“Get any sleep?”

“Kinda,” his voice is deep and drowsy.

She hums contently, “good.”

“So…there is something we should talk about.”

“I’m listening,” she says neutrally.

“Holtzy gets…a little uptight before the trade deadline.” Ransom explains.

“Ok…”

“As in if he had a coral reef mode—it would be for trades.”

Larissa nods her head, inhaling deeply. She turns around in his arms. “What can I do?”

“Spend the week in Virginia?”

“With him?”

Ransom snorts, “obviously.”

Lardo glares slightly. “I’m supposed to be job hunting y’know?”

“I was thinking…”

Larissa tilts her head up, assessing Justin’s hesitation. She kisses his shoulder encouragingly.

“If he gets traded he’s gonna need help packing up that apartment, and I don’t have time,” he reasons.

“And if he doesn’t get traded?” She counters.

Justin shrugs. “You could find a job down there. We could move in a few weeks.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I’m so unsure that the only thing I’m sure of is that I’m not sure.”  

“That’s a mouthful Mr. Oluransi,” Lardo chirps.

“What can I say Ms. Duan? I don’t know what I want, but I can’t do this for another week.”

She purses her lips. “Does Adam know?”

“That I wanna quit? Yeah.”

“What about me going down to DC with him?”

Ransom winces. “I was hopping you’d help me talk to him about that.”

Larissa tilts her head back and forth, deliberating. “Ok.”

“Yea?”

She leans up, pecking his jaw, smirking. “Yea, I think we can manage.”

_/.\\_

Four days later she’s woken up at the ass crack of dawn to drive down to DC with Ransom. Holter has a matinee game, and Lardo will get to see his apartment in Arlington for the first time. It’s so bizarre to her that they’ve been dating for months and she’s never had the opportunity before to see this other half of Adam’s life.

“It’s too early for this,” she groans into her travel mug as Ransom parks in front of Holster’s apartment building.

“For what?”

“For wondering how I’m gonna spend the next week,” she confesses.  

Ransom quirks a brow.

“I’m not you,” she elaborates. “Aren’t people gonna ask?”

“That’s why I’m here,” he reaches for her hand, lacing them together. “The SOAPs are dece. I promise.”

Lardo hauls her stuff to the elevator. The building is much nicer than she anticipated. Adam had said Virginia and she assumed some dinky apartment building built in the 70s surrounded by trees. No, this building was centrally located, recently built, and extremely clean.  Ransom offers to carry some of it, but she insists that he already has to drive enough today. Justin stops in front of the apartment door. He waits, staring at her expectantly.

Larissa squints. “What?”

“Go on,” he gestures to the door. “It’s your apartment too.”

She pulls out her key ring. It’s probably a good thing he reminded her she’s had a key for a while now. Not that she’s ever had reason to use it before today.  The door swings open, revealing a somewhat modern kitchen off to the side, and a living room with a porch door at the back end of the space. It wasn’t as high end as the apartment in Baltimore which made Larissa breathe easily. This was more her style, something nice that wasn’t constantly reminding her that she couldn’t really afford to live there.

“I could live here,” she assesses out loud.

Justin chuckles, closing the door behind them.  “I picked out this place for him.”

“Let me guess,” she speculates as she kicks off her shoes, “he picked the Baltimore place for you?”

“It grew on me,” Ransom says as he opens the fridge. “He was right about the extra room, and the kitchen.”

“Fuck you’re right. I’m gonna miss my kitchen.”

“We’re not breaking up, Lards,” he points out.  

“With our lease, we are.” She gestures to her bags. “Kinda sad that my entire life fits into two bags.”

“It used to be just one,” he points out.

“I’m expanding, sweet,” she says sarcastically. “Where is he?”

“Asleep probably.” Their eyes meet in an intense stare. “Not it,” he declares quickly.

“Coward,” she whisper-shouts, walking toward the closed bedroom door.

The bed is just as big as the one back in Baltimore. She briefly wonders what they’re going to do with two sets of everything. Adam’s sleeping form is piled underneath a stack of pillows and a blanket. Larissa smiles sadly, wondering what he does during roadies. She tip-toes toward the bed, shedding her purple jacket and letting it fall to the ground. She slips into bed behind him, nuzzling his head as her arm slips around his chest. Her warm lips find the curve of his right ear, kissing it tenderly.

Adam moans quietly. Larissa takes it as a victory. She trails kisses down to his jaw. He flinches in his sleep.

“C’mon, Adam, wake up,” Lardo murmurs directly into his ear.

Holster groans again, turning toward her. Lardo thinks she’s succeeded until he’s dragging her down into his arms. She yelps.

“Good job waking him up,” Ransom chirps from the doorway.

“I never said I could get him out of bed,” Lardo argues.

“Less talking, more sleeping,” Holster complains.  

“You have a game today, Holtzy,” Ransom informs him.

“You can fill in for me,” he argues.

“Last I checked the jersey says Birkholtz, not Oluransi,” Justin counters.

“We could fix that.” Holster offers.

“Or you could get out of bed,” Larissa and Justin tell him simultaneously.  

“Five more minutes and then I’ll get up.”

“Promise?” Lardo taps his chest.

“Yea,” Holster grumbles. “Rans get your ass in bed.”

Over Holster’s shoulder, Lardo sees Ransom cross his arms. “Only if you ask nicely.”

“Please get your gorgeous ass in bed. I’m starved for your love.” Adam revises.

Justin relaxes. “That’s more like it.”

He pushes Holster gently toward the center of the bed. Soon, their legs are all tangled together. Lardo leans into the crook of Holster’s neck while Ransom buries his head in Holster’s other shoulder. Their arms overlap on Adam’s waist. The good news is that Holster has another hour before he really needs wake up, and his alarm clock is already set. Holster murmurs something about it being the perfect Sunday before they all drift off. Perfect is in the little moments, Larissa thinks.

_/.\\_

The game is a 3-1 loss against the Schooners. Sitting in the SOAPs section turns out to be not as bad as Lardo had anticipated. Of course, there were some confused faces as Justin made introductions. Larissa could see the questions on the tips of their tongues. She wasn’t looking forward to the flood of gossip that would be asked of her later in the week.

Ransom drives the two of them afterwards to a restaurant that was apparently Holster’s favorite just outside the city. It’s a classic 50’s style dinner. Lardo’s secretly relieved that it wasn’t some four-star restaurant that wouldn’t accept their Holster jerseys as attire. Then again, Justin wouldn’t keep her out of the loop on something like that.

It’s twenty minutes before Holster slips into the circular booth next to Ransom.

“That was fast,” Lardo observes.

“I was giving shitty answers so they’d let me go early,” Adam explains.

“No harm in that.” Ransom passes him a metal cup, “chocolate shake?”

“Fuck you’re amazing.” He takes a few sips of the shake before settling back into the vinyl seating. “So how was it being SOAP official, Lards?”

“I think I’m gonna spend all week explaining what polyamory is to them,” she cringes. “But they were fine.”

“Just fine?” Adam frowns.

Larissa fidgets with her straw, weighing her possible responses. “Look, if I knew a guy’s partner for three years—and one day that partner showed up with a chick and was like ‘the three of us used to date in college and now we’re together again and in love’—I’d be skeptical too.”

“I didn’t say it like that,” Ransom pouts.

Lardo wraps an arm around his shoulders, kissing his cheek firmly. “You were word vomiting. I love you, but you were two seconds away from talking about Jack.”

“No,” Holster gasps.

“I was just saying it’s not that weird,” he defends.

“I know,” Lardo affirms. “But they don’t.”

Justin sighs rubbing his temples with one hand. “It’s not the same when Jerome and Maria aren’t around.”

Adam intervenes. “They’re the good ones. You don’t have to trust them. But we do, ok?”

“Ok,” she agrees seriously.

_/.\\_

The next morning is the first time she’s woken up without Justin in almost six months. The bed feels cold on his side so she all but hides in Adam’s arms. They spend ten minutes lazily groaning back and forth, communicating their mutual tiredness and distaste at being awake.

“Do you just miss him every minute of every day?” Larissa complains as she pries herself from his arms.

“Duh,” Adam huffs.

Lardo stretches her arms, feeling her shoulders crack loudly. “We gonna run or are we gonna feel sorry for ourselves all day?”

“Por que no los dos?” He asks imitating an ancient Old El Paso commercial.

Lardo snorts, “I’ll be sure to tell Cait about that later. I’m sure she’ll be happy to know that you’re keeping up with her culture.”

“She’s probably too busy making Dex build cribs, Chowder build that bookcase, and Nursey repaint the nursery,” he argues. Then he dissolves into laugher. “Ha, Nursey nursery.”

“I’ll tell her you said that too,” she heads toward the bathroom to change into running gear.

“You do that and I’ll tell her how you kept asking if she could use her belly as a weapon,” he threatens.

“It’s a legitimate question, Adam!” Larissa shouts.

Arlington turns out to be more populated than Lardo originally imagined. It was really like any other East Coast city. The trees were still dead this late in winter, but the streets were buzzing with people and cars. It was comforting to Larissa. Just knowing there was more to a city than the view from an apartment was enough to make her feel like she was in the right place. Like she hadn’t gotten lost somehow. She jogs next to Adam with her music low enough to hear him in case he changes directions. Exercising with Justin meant casual conversations or TV watching while using equipment. But that was already built into Adam’s career. He preferred quiet companionship and early morning vistas.

They get a few long glances as they pass various bystanders.  Some of them seem to be amused by their apparent height difference.

“Assholes,” Larissa hisses under her visible breath.

Much of staring, however, is directed at Holster. Lardo thought, not for the first time, how much harder it must be for Holster to get lost in a crowd. Before it was his above average height. Now, he was an NHL player for the local team. Almost no one notices them in Baltimore. It’s all very bizarre to her how anyone could think of Adam as anything but a sweet man who marathons sitcoms too hard, and can’t pronounce caramel to save his life.

They’re a few blocks from the apartment when Adam taps her shoulder.

She pulls one of her earbuds out, “what’s up?”

“Starbucks?”

She blinks at him a few times. “Meal plan?”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” He crosses his heart.

“Yes, let me run to call Justin right now.” She nudges him with a smirk, “your idea, you’re buying.”

“Last one to the door pays,” Holster takes off sprinting.

“Cheater,” she calls out after him.

_/.\\_

Larissa spends the rest of Monday looking at openings in DC. There are some ad agencies, and plenty of agencies that have communication departments. Tuesday is a blur of applications and scoping around the neighborhood of Holster’s apartment. Their apartment, she reminds herself constantly. It’s just her this time to watch television with him before the game. He lets her pick the episode of _30 Rock_ and they melt into each other comfortably. He heads out with his bag, and a one last kiss for Lardo.

“I love you. Knock em dead out there, ok?” she encourages him.

“Promise, I’ll meet you back here after?”

“Yep, and I’ll be screaming my fucking lungs off for you before then.”

“Fuck, I love you,” Adam holds her a little tighter.

“I love you too,” she repeats. “C’mon, you’ll be late.”

She manages to get an Uber and get to the SOAPs section without much trouble. The idea of sitting with all those white suburban moms by herself was unsettling, however. Not that any of them had been blatantly rude or harsh. But Larissa had noticed the way they’d eyed her and Justin curiously. They were waiting for a pin to drop, or some gossip to be throw their way or…something. They were probably nice people when they weren’t learning about polyamory.

Lardo mentally braced herself as she entered the friends and family section. She felt like the new kid on the first day of school. So the second she saw a Black man and Latina woman sitting by where she and Justin had sat at the last game, she didn’t think twice before approaching them.

“Mind if I sit here?”

“Of course not,” the woman assures her.

“Thanks,” Larissa said as she slid into the seat on the left side of the man.

Without Justin or Adam around to ease her into a conversation, Lardo felt extremely awkward as she tried to manage some small talk.

“So, who are you here for?” The man asks mercifully.

“Holster,” she responded automatically. “I-uh-mean Birkholtz.”

“You’re Lardo right?” The woman’s eyes brighten considerably.  

Larissa snorts, “yea that’s me.”

The woman extends her hand, “Maria, nice to meet you.”

“Wow, nice to meet you too,” she turns to offer her to shake the man’s hand “and you must be—”

“Jerome,” he replies. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Yea, you too. Justin said you guys were out of town so I didn’t know if we were gonna meet.”

Jerome rolls his eyes, “Rans chirped the hell out of us for going to New York for the weekend.”

Maria raises her eyebrows, taking a long sip of her beer. “Holster texted me so much this morning. ‘You’re going to the game, right?’ ‘You’re going to meet my girlfriend, right?’ ‘You got my back, right Maria? Right?’”

Lardo blushes. “Yep that sounds like them, subtle.”

Jerome and Maria shrug at each other. “I think we’re used it by now.” Jerome beams easily.

Larissa leans back in her seat comfortably. Then something occurs to her. “We don’t have to have a weird talk about polyamory, right?”

“Girl, no,” Maria tsks. “We literally get it.”

“Yea?” Lardo quirks a brow. “You guys—and Moss and Connie?”

“It’s more like Moss and I, Maria and Connie, and Moss and Connie.” Jerome clarifies as he pushes his glasses up his nose. “But we’re flexible sometimes, and it works for us y’know?”

Larissa smiles comfortably, “yea I know. I’m not sure how much you know about our deal—”

“Next to nothing and we’re desperate here,” Maria whispers conspiratorially.  

Jerome snickers. Maria pouts, “don’t pretend like you don’t wanna know.”

“Let her be, Mari,” Jerome chastises. “She’ll tell us what she wants.”

“I don’t mind,” Larissa assures them both. “You guys are…cool.”

“You mean we’re not them,” Jerome gestures down toward the group of moms Larissa awkwardly interacted with on Sunday.

Lardo groans, “I know it sounds shitty. But they were staring at me like a fucking science experiment.”

“It’s ok,” Maria nods. “We get it.”

Lardo crinkles her nose. “Are you sure you wanna hear about my break up drama?”

“Yes,” they insist.

Larissa giggles despite her nerves. Her guys were right, she could trust these two.

_/.\\_

The Caps loose by two, the same amount of phone numbers Larissa leaves the arena with. It was nice knowing she wouldn’t be shoved to one corner of the SOAPs section just because she didn’t exactly fit in (or at least, she wouldn’t be alone).  

She gets back to the apartment, and decides to make pasta because she’s buzzing with anticipation and has an hour to kill. When front door finally unlocks, Larissa is perched on the couch with a hard cider in hand.

Holster groans as he walks through the door, dropping his bag as he kicks off his shoes. He loosens his tie, and shucks his suit jacket almost violently onto a kitchen stool.

“Come here, big guy,” Larissa opens her arms for him.

It takes Adam a minute of lazy shuffling to situate his self against Lardo.

“You played well.” Lardo presses a kiss into his temple.

“Thanks, babe,” he rasps tiredly. “Did you have fun?”

“I did, actually.”

“Told yea,” Holster says triumphantly.

“Yea your friends are nice,” she concedes. “I’m glad I met them.”

“Well that’s one good thing about today.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

He shifts away from her. “Can I?” he gestures to her lap.

Larissa nods, allowing him to rest his head on her. He shudders as she runs a hand through his hair.

“It’s been such a shit season—too many injuries, not enough support from the forwards. Holtby and Moss are getting decimated out there.”

Lardo hums quietly. It’s a song from when they were in college. Holster closes his eyes.

“Found an old friend,” she says quietly. “Meeting my guitar in the city. Feeling like a star in the city.”

“And suddenly it seems that I’m where I’m supposed to be,” they sing together.

Larissa keeps singing because Adam doesn’t get serenaded often. When she’s done, his eyes crack open slightly. He’s grinning at her like they’re 21 and 23 again; like they’re on cloud nine, and their problems as simple as ‘who’s turn is it to take out the trash?’. She can’t help but giggle. Because they’re happy, and when was the last time she could take Holster’s presence for granted? She leans down to peck his nose. He tilts his head up to kiss her properly. He’s smiling into it. She does the same. They’re silent for a while, just enjoying each other.

“You sure it’s just the losing streak?”  Lardo dares to ask.

Adam sighs loudly. “I don’t want to sound like a dick—” he stops himself.

“But?”

“I’m sick of driving an hour to see you guys,” he pauses. “I was sick of it at the start of the season. I’m crawling out of my skin now.”

“That’s ok,” she whispers. “We’re sick of it too. We’re working on it.”

“Look you moved from Boston to New York to Baltimore in less than a year. We’re in fucking Arlington right now, and I’d bet my left shoe I’m getting traded.”

Lardo quirks a brow. “You sure?”

“As sure as ‘Werewolf Bar Mitzvah’ was the most underrated Halloween song of all time.” He volleys.

“Ok, so we’ll deal. All of my shit’s here either way.” She rambles. “Holtzy, Rans and I don’t care if we have to move to Canada for you, ok? We just want to be together.”

“Ok,” he stares at the ceiling. “Yeah, ok.”

Larissa bites her lip. She doesn’t want to push, but she doesn’t want Adam to think he should hide anything from her.

“Babe, what do you want?”

“For what?”

“Everything—don’t think. Just tell me.”

He stays quiet for a while. And then, he says, “get traded, move somewhere warmer. Buy a house and get a contract with a no trade clause.”

“What else?”

“You and Justin doing whatever makes you happy,”

“We could wake up in the same bed most days,” she murmurs. “We could spend your Cup day wherever you want. We’d have the entire summer to dick around.”

Holster’s eyes flicker to her. They’re unreadable.

She blanches. “What?”

“I want to spend forever dicking around with you,” he admits, “you and Rans.”

Lardo feels herself smirk. “That could be arranged.”

Adam beams. “You think?”

“I wanna spend forever dicking around with you too.”

“Just the three of us or…”

Larissa laughs.

Adam gets up, pulling her into his lap. “I’ll take whatever. I just want you happy.”

“We’ll get there, ok?”

Holster opens his mouth to answer, but he’s interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing. Lardo gets up to grab it from his bag, remembering the pocket where he always stashes it.

“It’s your agent,” she tells him.

Adam holds his hand out for his phone. She presses the talk button for him as she crosses the room. Sitting next to him, Larissa’s hand finds his free one. Whatever’s next, she knows they’re ready. Adam takes a deep breath, putting his phone up to his ear.

“Hello?”

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title - lyrics from Green and Gold by Lianne La Havas (aka what happens when I watch Ngozi's stream, waiting for good music to add to my fic playlists) 
> 
> I have more to come. You might have to wait for the second half of ASG weekend because I don't feel inspired by it right now. Side note: if you go to [my Grand Larsony tag on Tumblr](http://abominableobriens.tumblr.com/tagged/grand%20larsony) there's a lot of extra content that isn't getting posted here yet. And feel free to say hi if you're on there. I love talking about these three.


End file.
